Air Products today announced the award of a contract to supply two oxygen plants at the site of a copper smelter being built in Zambia by Kansanshi Mining Plc.
The scope of the agreement includes Air Products supply of two 750 metric ton per day oxygen plants, and all air separation unit (ASU) related equipment and design. The construction of the facility will be undertaken by Kansanshi Mining Plc, with cooperation from Air Products. The ASUs are planned to be on-stream in 2014.
Air Products has oxygen plants operating at other copper mines in Zambia and its presence in those facilities helped to win this contract. "The basis for the design of this new plant for Kansanshi comes from the previously constructed plants,” said Aled Williams, project manager for Air Products. “Being able to reuse the design for these cold boxes created a win-win for our client and Air Products. We were able to demonstrate that our technology offering was a competitive and proven product."
Kansanshi Mining Plc, the largest copper mine in Africa, produced 230,000 tonnes of copper in 2011. Kansanshi is in the process of increasing its current production capacity by 60 percent to 400,000 tonnes by 2015.
